System and method of manufacturing an additively manufactured object

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems according to the invention may be used to modify a manufacturing plan for an object manufactured by an additive manufacturing process. A digital representation of a desired object and a manufacturing plan may be compared to manufacturing information generated via an evaluation of such an object. Based on that comparison, the manufacturing plan may be modified so that that object or a subsequent object is highly similar to the desired object.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/298,550, filed Mar. 11, 2019, which claims the benefit of priority toU.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/641,317, filed on Mar.10, 2018.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods of manufacturing anobject using an additive manufacturing process.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Additive manufacturing (sometimes referred to as 3D-printing) hasprovided industry with the ability to make objects having complex shapesthat were not previously possible. Further, additive manufacturing hasreduced manufacturing time and cost, thereby enabling new approaches toproduct development. However, the complexity of the objects made byadditive manufacturing and the speed with which such objects can be madepresents challenges with respect to producing finished objects that arewithin desired specifications. Additionally, as the use of additivemanufacturing has grown from initially producing prototype parts to morerecently producing functional, end-use parts, the requirements for suchparts have become more demanding and, in some cases, additionalprocesses beyond merely the printing step are needed to meet thoserequirements. These can include meeting certain tolerances across thegeometrical dimensions of the parts, or certain degrees of surfacesmoothness, or other factors, as well as ensuring a certain level ofconsistency of meeting those requirements from one object to another,whether they are made on the same 3D printing machine or differentmachines. Presently, manufacturing problems are not discovered untilmany out-of-specification objects are produced. Additionally, as thenumber of machines making parts, and as the number of parts being madeby those machines, grows, it is becoming more difficult and complex tomanage the end-to-end process of fabricating the parts. Variousapproaches have been developed to focus on some of these issues duringthe printing stage, but less attention has been paid to the end-to-endadditive manufacturing process for making a fully-ready part, as well asways to more efficiently improve such end-to-end process to make betterparts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention may be embodied as a computer-implemented method ofmanufacturing an object via an additive manufacturing process. Such amethod may include:

-   -   (a) providing a digital representation of a desired object and a        manufacturing plan. The manufacturing plan may have instructions        for both building and finishing an object that should produce        the desired object (including all of its desired        characteristics) via the additive manufacturing process.    -   (b) building and finishing the object via the additive        manufacturing process according to the manufacturing plan to        produce a manufactured object.        Such a method may include:    -   (a) comparing the manufactured object to the digital        representation to determine whether the manufactured object has        the desired characteristics. Such a comparison may be carried        out after building the object but prior to finishing the object        to determine whether the object has the desired characteristics.        Such a comparison could also be carried out during printing,        during finishing, or at some other point in the manufacturing        process, and the manufacturing plan could be adjusted while that        portion of the manufacturing process is occurring;    -   (b) identifying parameters of the manufactured object that are        different from the desired characteristics;    -   (c) using the parameters to modify at least a portion of the        manufacturing plan to produce a modified manufacturing plan.        The modified manufacturing plan may be used to complete        manufacturing of the object using the modified manufacturing        plan.

Another method that is in keeping with the invention may be acomputer-implemented method of manufacturing an object via an additivemanufacturing process. Such a method may include:

-   -   (a) providing a digital representation of a desired object and a        manufacturing plan, wherein the manufacturing plan has        instructions that should produce a desired object having desired        characteristics via an additive manufacturing process;    -   (b) manufacturing an object via the additive manufacturing        process according to the manufacturing plan to produce a        manufactured object;    -   (c) comparing the manufactured object to the digital        representation to determine whether the manufactured object has        the desired characteristics;    -   (d) identifying parameters of the manufactured object that are        different from the desired characteristics;    -   (e) using the parameters to modify the manufacturing plan to        produce a modified manufacturing plan.

Each of the methods outlined above may be used to manufacture a secondmanufactured object via the additive manufacturing process according tothe modified manufacturing plan.

Each of the methods outlined above may further include determining aprobability that the manufacturing plan is likely to produce an objecthaving the desired characteristics and comparing the determinedprobability to a pre-specified minimum probability. If the determinedprobability is less than the minimum probability, then the manufacturingplan may be modified until the probability equals or exceeds the minimumprobability, and then the modified manufacturing plan may be used forbuilding and finishing the object.

The additive manufacturing technology used in the additive manufacturingprocess may be fused deposition modeling, material jetting, stereolithography, selective laser sintering, high-speed sintering, directmetal laser sintering, or layered object manufacturing. And, themanufactured object may have plastic, metal, or ceramic material.

Modifying the manufacturing plan may include modifying a portion of themanufacturing plan pertaining to:

-   -   (a) fabricating support material;    -   (b) removing unwanted support material and/or smoothing surfaces        of build material;    -   (c) a speed at which layers or other portions of the object are        formed;    -   (d) a temperature of material being used to form the object;    -   (e) an orientation of the object being manufactured; and/or    -   (f) settings of one or more machines used to fabricate the        object.

The methods may be carried out so as to perform an interim evaluationafter manufacturing begins but before manufacturing is complete. Such aninterim evaluation may identify aspects of a partially manufacturedobject that do not comply with an interim digital representation of thedesired object. Those portions of the manufacturing plan pertaining tothose aspects may be modified in order to address those aspects.

The invention may be embodied as a system for carrying out the methodsoutlined above. Such a system may be used to modify a manufacturing planfor an additively manufactured object. In one such system, there are:

-   -   (a) one or more databases storing a digital representation of a        desired object having desired characteristics, and storing a        manufacturing plan having desired steps which when carried out        should produce a desired object via an additive manufacturing        process;    -   (b) one or more communication links configured to transmit        manufacturing information describing an additively manufactured        object (the “AMO”) and processes used to create the AMO;    -   (c) a coordinating computer connected to the communication        links, the coordinating computer including a microprocessor        programmed to:    -   (i) receive the manufacturing information;    -   (ii) compare the manufacturing information to the desired        characteristics and the desired steps;    -   (iii) identify parameters where the manufacturing information is        different from the characteristics of the desired object or the        manufacturing plan; and    -   (iv) transmit a message describing the parameters.        The microprocessor is further programmed to modify the        manufacturing plan corresponding to the parameters.

In some embodiments of the invention, at least a portion of themanufacturing information may be generated by a machine tasked withexecuting a portion of the manufacturing plan.

The system may be configured so that the communication links transmitinstructions to a machine tasked with carrying out a portion of themanufacturing plan. As such, the instructions being followed by themachine may be modified. Such machines may include a machine that istasked with fabricating build material and/or support material. Such amachine may include a machine that is tasked with removing unwantedsupport material and/or smoothing surface of build material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention,reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and the subsequentdescription. Briefly, the drawings are:

FIG. 1 , which is a schematic of a system that is in keeping with theinvention;

FIG. 2 , which is a flow diagram depicting a method that is in keepingwith the invention;

FIG. 3A, which is flow diagram depicting a method that is in keepingwith the invention;

FIG. 3B, which is a flow diagram depicting a method that is in keepingwith the invention;

FIG. 3C, which is a flow diagram depicting a method that is in keepingwith the invention; and

FIG. 4 , which is a flow diagram depicting a method that is in keepingwith the invention for modifying a manufacturing plan.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 depicts a system 10 that is in keeping with the invention. FIG. 1schematically depicts a system 10 for facilitating the delivery,execution and modification of a manufacturing plan describing how anobject 13 is to be manufactured using an additive manufacturing process.Such a plan may include aspects focused on building an object, forexample via a 3D printing process, as well as finishing that builtobject, for example by contacting the built object with a chemicalsolution that dissolves unwanted support material and/or abrasivematerial that erodes unwanted support material or smooths surfaces ofthe build material. For clarity, steps taken to build an object mayinclude depositing material in layers that ultimately are part of thecompleted object as well as depositing material (e.g. unwanted supportmaterial) that is later removed during a finishing operation and is notpart of the completed object.

In FIG. 1 there is a database 16 for storing one or more manufacturingplans and four communication links 19, which can be bidirectionalcommunication links. Each communication link 19 may permit manufacturinginformation pertaining to a particular object being manufactured to betransmitted from a manufacturing location 22 to the database 16, and maypermit a manufacturing plan to be transmitted from the coordinatingcomputer 34 to a particular manufacturing location 22.

Each manufacturing location 22 is shown having a machine 25 for carryingout an additive manufacturing part-making process. Such a machine 25produces an interim object 28, which may then be subjected to afinishing process using a finishing machine 31. Transferring the interimobject 28 from the build machine 25 to the finishing machine 31 could bedone manually or robotically. Once finished, the manufactured object 13may be removed from the finishing machine 31 and evaluated to determinewhether the manufactured object 13 has desired characteristics. Suchevaluation may be performed manually, by automation, or a combination ofboth. Information generated by such an evaluation may be transmitted viathe communication link 19 to the database 16, where the information maybe compared by a coordinating computer 34 to identify parameters thatare not in keeping with the desired characteristics. Those parametersmay be used to identify ways to modify the manufacturing plan so thatfuture objects have the desired characteristics, or are at least closerto the desired characteristics. Such modifications may be identifiedmanually, by automation, or a combination of both. While the embodimentof FIG. 1 shows machines 25 and 31 to be separate machines, they maycombined into a single machine providing both build and finishingfunctionality. Also, while the embodiment of FIG. 1 shows a location 22to include both the machines 25 and machines 31 to be in a singlelocation, machines 25 and 31 could be in different locations from eachother. Additionally, each location 22 may include multiple machines 25and machines 31 that are used collectively for parallel manufacturing ofobjects 28.

The database 16 may be used to store a digital representation of thedesired manufactured object that has the desired characteristics, suchas the geometry, dimensions, tolerances and surface roughness of thedesired manufactured object. The database 16 may be used to store amanufacturing plan that has desired steps, which when carried out shouldproduce the desired object via an additive manufacturing process.

The manufacturing information may include information about a particularadditively manufactured object (an “AMO”) and/or the manufacturingprocess that will be or was carried out to create the AMO. For example,manufacturing information may include the operating settings (e.g. time,temperature, speed) of the machine 25 tasked with building the AMO (suchas a 3D printer), a description about the origin and type of the rawmaterials used to build the AMO, an identification number of the personthat monitored and/or controlled the machine 25 that built the interimobject 28 (that ultimately became the AMO), as well as the ambienttemperature and humidity of the room where the machine 25 resides.Further, the manufacturing information may include any other variables,identifiers, settings, instructions or environmental or other conditionsrelevant for a particular machine 25.

Manufacturing information may include information about the settings(e.g. temperature, speed, duration, type of detergent or otherfluids/chemicals to be used, type of abrasive media to be used) of themachine 31 or plurality of machines 31 that will be or were used toperform finishing steps, such as steps to remove unwanted supportmaterial (the “RUSM Steps”) from the unfinished AMO, steps to smoothsurfaces (reduce surface roughness) of the unfinished AMO (the“Smoothing Steps”), an identification number of the individual thatmonitored and/or controlled the RUSM Steps and Smoothing Steps, as wellas the ambient temperature and humidity and other relevant conditionswhere the machines 31 for carrying out the RUSM and Smoothing Stepsresides. Manufacturing information may include the dimensions,tolerances, surface finish (e.g., smoothness or roughness), and otherinformation corresponding to the AMO itself. The manufacturinginformation may include any other variables, identifiers, settings,instructions or other environmental or other conditions relevant for aparticular machine 31. The manufacturing information may be transmittedvia the communication links 19 to the coordinating computer 34.

The coordinating computer 34 may be programmed to (a) receive themanufacturing information pertaining to an AMO, (b) compare thatmanufacturing information to the desired characteristics of the desiredobject, and/or the manufacturing plan, (c) identify parameters that themanufacturing information indicates are not in keeping with thecharacteristics of the desired object or the manufacturing plan, and/orwhether manufacture of the AMO should continue or be aborted. After suchparameters are identified, a message describing the parameters may betransmitted, for example to a person responsible for the design and/ormanufacturing of the desired object, and that person may then considerhow to modify the manufacturing plan. Or, the message may be formulatedautomatically by the coordinating computer to automatically provide oneor more of the machines 25, 31 with a modified plan for completingmanufacture of the object. For example, when a particular parameter isidentified in an interim object 28, the coordinating computer mayrecognize that particular parameter and respond by selecting acorresponding modification of the manufacturing plan. For instance, ifthe interim object 28 produced by the build-machine 25 has a surfaceroughness that is rougher than normal, upon identifying the excessroughness as a parameter, the coordinating computer 34 may increase thetime during which the object is subjected to the finishing process ofmachine 31 and/or may increase the temperature of a chemical solutionused in the machine 31 to smooth the object.

It should be noted that the object may be evaluated while the object isbeing built by the build machine 25, and the resulting manufacturinginformation may be used by the coordinating computer 34 to alter themanufacturing plan being executed by the build machine 25, prepare thefinishing machine 31 for the particular interim object 28 expected to beproduced by the build machine 25, or alert a human to an issue thatrequires human input. An issue requiring human input may result in thehuman deciding that the object can not be efficiently brought to be inkeeping with the desired characteristics, and that manufacturing of thatparticular object should cease, thereby saving time and money associatedwith completing the manufacture of that particular object.

With such parameters in hand, the manufacturing plan, the machines 25,31 used to manufacture, the materials used in the machines 25, 31,and/or the ambient conditions can be modified so that a next attempt toproduce the desired object is more likely to produce an AMO that moreclosely matches the desired object and/or so that the manufacturing planfor an AMO that is about to be manufactured or is currently beingmanufactured is modified before manufacturing of that AMO is started orcompleted, respectively. As such, the coordinating computer 34 providesa logistics aspect that facilitates efficient execution of themanufacturing plan (for example, the expected time that an object islikely to be ready to transfer from the build machine 25 to thefinishing machine 31), and modification of that plan even while anobject is being manufactured. The coordinating computer 34 may befurther programmed to modify those portions of the manufacturing planthat correspond to the parameters. Once the manufacturing plan ismodified, instructions may be transmitted via the communication link 19to the appropriate machine 25, 31 or to an individual in order to carryout the modified plan.

Additive manufacturing technologies to which the invention may beapplied include, among others, fused deposition modeling, materialjetting, stereo lithography, selective laser sintering, high-speedsintering, direct metal laser sintering, and layered objectmanufacturing. For clarity, the manufactured object 13 may be plastic,metal, ceramic and/or any other material or combinations of materials(e.g., composites) used in additive manufacturing.

RUSM and Smoothing Steps to which the invention may be applied include,among others, those that use liquids, which may be applied to the AMO ina bath, vat, chamber or from high pressure spray nozzles. Also, theinvention may be used with RUSM and Smoothing Steps that rely onabrasive solids or combinations of liquids and abrasive solids to removeunwanted support material and/or smooth surfaces of build material.

It will now be recognized that at least some of the manufacturinginformation may be generated by a machine 25, 31 that is tasked withexecuting a portion of the manufacturing plan, or may be generated bysensors located on or near such machines. Some manufacturing informationmay be provided by the makers of the machines 25, 31 as part of themachines' specifications, operating instructions or otherwise, and maybe available within stored memory of such machines, and in either casemay be communicated via links 19. Some manufacturing information, forexample an employee identification number, may be provided to thecommunication links 19 via machines 25, 31 for building or cleaning anAMO, or may be provided via a computer located nearby.

It should be noted that a system that is in keeping with the inventionmay distribute at least some of the coordinating computer's 34functionality to locally situated computers and databases (or otherstorage memory). For example, such a computer may be situated locally atone or more of the locations 22 to facilitate gathering of manufacturinginformation, and making changes to a manufacturing plan being executedat that location 22. Such locally situated computers may be stand-alonecomputers or may be integrated into one or more, or all, of the machines25, 31. In this manner, for example, a manufacturing plan for aparticular finishing machine 31 may be modified based on manufacturinginformation corresponding to an object being produced by a manufacturingmachine 25 at that same location 22. The modified plan may be stored onthe local computer, in the local database or other storage memory, andtransmitted to other local machines 25, 31. In this manner, such alocally situated computer facilitates a manufacturing process beingcarried out within local machine 25, between one local machine 25 andanother local machine 31, between one local machine 25 and another localmachine 25, or between one local machine 31 and another local machine31. And, such a locally situated computer may communicate with acentrally located coordinating computer, or other locally situatedcomputers in order to communicate modified plans that may benefit otherlocations 22.

A modified manufacturing plan may be created in response tomanufacturing information received from a location 22 (including one ormore machines 25, 31 at a location 22), or such a modified plan mayarise from some other reason not related to manufacturing information.That is to say, a modified plan need not arise in order to correct aproblem identified from manufacturing information. Further, a modifiedplan may be transmitted and implemented while a manufacturing process isbeing carried out. As such, a particular plan for a particularmanufacturing operation may be modified while that manufacturingoperation is being carried out. Consequently, for example, if a printingoperation or finishing operation has begun, the plan for such a printingoperation or finishing operation may be modified while such a printingoperation or finishing operation is in process. As one example, during aprinting operation it may be determined that the surface roughness ofthe object being fabricated is already rougher than had been anticipatedbased on the manufacturing plan. The manufacturing plan may be modifiedto specify a finer build material layer thickness to achieve a lessrough surface, and that modified plan could be executed for theremainder of the object being printed.

Such an ability to modify manufacturing operations “on the fly” may alsobe used to accommodate excess capacity or a lack of capacity in otherareas, and thus create a more efficient manufacturing operation. FIG. 2depicts a method that modifies a manufacturing plan in order to utilizeexcess capacity or alleviate a lack of capacity. For example, if adelivery truck is ready to be loaded, but there are not enough finishedproducts to fill the truck, a message may be sent and received 53 by thecoordinating computer 34, the manufacturing plan may be modified 56, andthe modified manufacturing plan may be sent to and implemented 59 at oneor more of the locations 22 to speed up the manufacturing process, suchas by increasing the speed at which objects are printed by machines 25and/or finished by machines 31. Or, if a particular finishing machine 31has too many objects waiting to be finished, a message may be sent andreceived 53 by the coordinating computer 34, the manufacturing plan maybe modified 56, and the modified manufacturing plan may be sent to andimplemented 59 at one or more of the locations 22 to slow down one ormore printing machines 25, at least until that finishing machine 31 hasalleviated the backlog. Similarly, if a finishing machine 31 has becomeavailable sooner than expected, a manufacturing machine 35 can beinstructed to speed up a current fabrication of an object 28 (e.g., byincreasing the speed of the printhead or increasing build material layerthickness) to take advantage of the available finishing machine 31. Theinvention may be embodied as a method of manufacturing an object viaadditive manufacturing. FIG. 3A depicts one such method that is acomputer-implemented method of manufacturing an object having desiredcharacteristics via an additive manufacturing process. A digitalrepresentation of a desired object and a manufacturing plan are provided100 to a coordinating computer. When the manufacturing plan is carriedout, the desired object should be produced meeting the requirements andspecifications for the part, but this is not always the case. Hencethere needs to be a method for determining which desired characteristicsare not being achieved, and for gathering and then communicatinginformation in a way that can be used to modify the manufacturing plan.

In one such method, an AMO is manufactured 103 via the additivemanufacturing process according to the manufacturing plan, and then thatAMO is evaluated 106 to obtain information that is compared 109 to thedigital representation in order to determine whether the AMO has thedesired characteristics. To the extent that the AMO does not have thedesired characteristics, those parameters of the AMO that are not inkeeping with the desired characteristics are identified 112, and used tomodify 115 the manufacturing plan. Using the modified manufacturingplan, a next AMO can be manufactured 118 to have the desiredcharacteristics, or to be closer to those desired characteristics thanthe prior AMO.

Modifying 115 the manufacturing plan may include modifying a portion ofthe manufacturing plan pertaining to one or more of the following: thetype of build material, the type of support material, the parameters fordepositing or forming the build material, the parameters for depositingor forming the support material, a speed at which layers or otherportions of the object are formed, a temperature of material being usedto form the object, an orientation of the object being manufactured,settings of one or more machines used to fabricate the object, themethod of removal of unwanted support material and the method ofsmoothing surfaces, and the settings and parameters for such removal andsmoothing (such as liquid and abrasive materials, temperature, time,pressure, level of agitation).

FIG. 3B illustrates steps of a method in which an interim object isevaluated 136, and the manufacturing plan is modified 145 based oninformation obtained from that interim evaluation. In this method, themanufacturing plan may be modified 145 and the modifications may beapplied (a) to one or more of the remaining manufacturing steps in orderto complete manufacturing 148 of the interim object, as well as (b) tothe manufacture 151 a subsequent object. In this manner, modificationsof the manufacturing plan arising from a particular object can beswiftly applied to the manufacturing plan of a subsequent object, andthis may be done for subsequent objects for which manufacturing hasalready begun.

FIG. 3C is a variation of the method depicted in FIG. 3B in which aninterim object is evaluated 206 after building 203 (i.e. printingoperations) occurs but before finishing, 218. The information generatedby that evaluation 206 may be used to modify 215 the manufacturing plancorresponding to finishing operations for that particular interim objectas well as the manufacturing plan for a subsequent object. Then, thatevaluated interim object is moved to a finishing machine and finished218 according to the modified manufacturing plan, and the subsequentobject is built 221 according to the modified manufacturing plan. Thatsubsequent object may already be in the building operations 203 when theinterim object is evaluated 206.

FIG. 4 is a method that combines and augments the features depicted inFIGS. 3A and 3B. In the method of FIG. 4 , the manufacturing plan may beevaluated prior to commencing actual manufacturing of an object toevaluate whether following the manufacturing plan is likely to producean object having the desired characteristics. This evaluation can beperformed manually by an operator or by automation such as usingcomputer programming carrying out evaluation algorithms and the like. Ifit is determined that the probability of fabricating the object is lessthan a specified minimum probability, then the manufacturing may bemodified to better ensure a requisite probability of success. Suchmodifications may include, among other things, modifications to thegeometry, dimensions or desired tolerances or surface smoothness of theparts, as well as changes to the machines, materials, settings and otherparameters for building and finishing the object. The specified minimumprobability may be the same for all objects or different for differentobjects, and may vary based on the importance of how closely the objectneeds to meet the desired characteristics. The method further includes afinal step of having the customer, end-user or other receiver of theobject evaluate the object for acceptability. If such person determinesthat the object is not acceptable, then the reasons can be captured andthe manufacturing plan can be updated so that the next unit of theobject will be more likely to meet the person's expectations orrequirements.

Manufacturing 103, 133 the AMO may be accomplished via additivemanufacturing printing technologies such as fused deposition modeling,material jetting, stereo lithography, selective laser sintering,high-speed sintering, direct metal laser sintering, or layered objectmanufacturing. Such manufacturing 103 may be used to form objects madeof plastic, metal, ceramic and/or any other material or combinations ofmaterials (e.g., composites) used in additive manufacturing.

Manufacturing 103, 133 of the AMO may be further accomplished viaadditive manufacturing finishing technologies (for RUSM and SmoothingSteps) such as those that use liquids, abrasive solids or combinationsthereof which may be applied to the AMO in a bath, vat, chamber or fromhigh pressure spray nozzles.

The method need not be limited to evaluating 106 the AMO at the end ofthe manufacturing process. For example, as shown in FIG. 3B at Step 135,an interim object 28 that is not fully manufactured may be evaluatedbefore the final manufacturing step is completed. By making such aninterim evaluation 133, it may be possible to obtain informationcorresponding to the partially manufactured interim object 28, compare139 that information to corresponding information associated with aninterim digital representation of the object corresponding to that stageof the manufacturing process, and then identify 142 parameters of thepartially manufactured interim object 28 that are not in keeping withthat interim digital representation. By doing so, it may be possible toidentify differences and then modify the manufacturing process 145 forthe next step 148 in the additive manufacturing process for the AMO athand, and also so that a subsequent manufactured object meets or iscloser to the interim characteristics. For example, after the printingstep, it may be determinate that a surface of the AMO is rougher thanwould have been expected based on the manufacturing plan. The portion ofthe manufacturing plan for the Smoothing Step could then be modified toaddress this additional roughness and thus ensure a better outcome forthis particular AMO. Such modifications may include, among others,increasing one or more of the time, temperature, concentration ofabrasives and level of agitation used in the machine 31.

Although the present invention has been described with respect to one ormore particular embodiments, it will be understood that otherembodiments of the present invention may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention. Hence, the presentinvention is deemed limited only by the appended claims and thereasonable interpretation thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of manufacturing anobject via additive manufacturing, comprising: providing a digitalrepresentation of a desired object and a manufacturing plan, themanufacturing plan having instructions for both building and finishingan object that should produce the desired object via an additivemanufacturing process, wherein the desired object has desiredcharacteristics; building and finishing the object via the additivemanufacturing process according to the manufacturing plan to produce amanufactured object; while finishing the object, capturing operatinginformation at a finishing machine that uses settings in themanufacturing plan to finish the object; modifying the instructions inthe manufacturing plan for building the object to produce a modifiedmanufacturing plan using the operating information captured at thefinishing machine.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising;comparing the manufactured object to the digital representation todetermine whether the manufactured object has the desiredcharacteristics; identifying parameters of the manufactured object thatare different from the desired characteristics; and using the parametersto modify at least a portion of the manufacturing plan to produce themodified manufacturing plan.
 3. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: comparing the manufactured object to the digitalrepresentation after building the object but prior to finishing theobject to determine whether the object has the desired characteristics;identifying parameters of the manufactured object that are differentfrom the desired characteristics; and using the parameters to modify atleast a portion of the manufacturing plan relating to finishing theobject to produce the modified manufacturing plan.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the additive manufacturing process comprises one ormore of fused deposition modeling, material jetting, stereo lithography,selective laser sintering, high-speed sintering, direct metal lasersintering, or layered object manufacturing.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein modifying the manufacturing plan includes modifying a portion ofthe manufacturing plan pertaining to fabricating support material. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the manufacturing plan includesmodifying a portion of the manufacturing plan pertaining to one or bothof removal of unwanted support material and smoothing of surfaces ofbuild material.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying themanufacturing plan includes modifying a portion of the manufacturingplan pertaining to a speed at which layers or other portions of theobject are formed.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying themanufacturing plan includes modifying a portion of the manufacturingplan pertaining to a temperature of material being used to form theobject.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the manufacturingplan includes modifying a portion of the manufacturing plan pertainingto an orientation of the object being manufactured.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein modifying the manufacturing plan includes modifying aportion of the manufacturing plan pertaining to settings of one or moremachines used to fabricate the object.
 11. The method of claim 1,further comprising performing an interim evaluation after manufacturingbegins but before manufacturing is complete, to identify aspects of apartially manufactured object that do not comply with an interim digitalrepresentation of the desired object, and modifying portions of themanufacturing plan pertaining to the aspects.
 12. A system for modifyinga manufacturing plan for an additively manufactured object, wherein themanufacturing plan has desired steps which when carried out shouldproduce the desired object via an additive manufacturing process,comprising: a build machine for carrying out an additive manufacturingpart-making process to produce an interim object; a finishing machineoperative to perform a finishing operation on the interim object; and acoordinating computer including a microprocessor programmed to: (a)receive manufacturing information from the build machine and thefinishing machine; (b) compare the manufacturing information to desiredcharacteristics of the additively manufactured object and the desiredsteps to identify differences between the manufacturing information andthe desired characteristics of the additively manufactured object or themanufacturing plan; and (c) use the manufacturing information capturedat the finishing machine to modify the instructions in the manufacturingplan for building the object to produce a modified manufacturing plan.13. The system of claim 12, wherein the build machine is tasked withfabricating build material and support material.
 14. The system of claim12, wherein the finishing machine is tasked with one or both of removingunwanted support material and smoothing of surfaces of build material.15. A computer-implemented method of manufacturing completed objectsusing additive manufacturing, comprising: using building instructions tooperate an additive manufacturing machine to build an interim object;finishing the interim object in a finishing operation to produce onecompleted object; capturing information while finishing the interimobject; developing modified building instructions based on theinformation captured during the finishing operation; and forming amanufacturing plan that combines the modified building instructions withfinishing instructions.
 16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:using the manufacturing plan to manufacture another completed object.17. The method of claim 15 wherein the manufacturing plan is used in thesame additive manufacturing machine that was used to build the interimobject.
 18. The method of claim 15 wherein the modified buildinginstructions include a change in orientation of an interim object to bebuilt.
 19. The method of claim 15 wherein the manufacturing plan is usedin an additive manufacturing machine other than the additivemanufacturing machine that was used to build the interim object.
 20. Themethod of claim 15 wherein the finishing instructions in themanufacturing plan provide for a finishing operation that differs fromthe finishing operation used to produce the one completed object.